GOOD Books For Teens Are So Hard To Find

Good, wholesome books for teens can be so hard to find. From birth to age twelve or so our kids are sheltered, protected, kept free from the evil of the world. Then suddenly society decides kids from thirteen on up should be inundated with evil. . . because it’s normal, they have to know about the realities of life, it reflects their normal experiences in the world and we want to respect that, and they’re ready for “adult” material.

I have completely had it with authors who lace their teen level books with sex, violence, profanity, drugs, alcohol, and every other evil imaginable. There is nothing mature or grown up about evil or addictions or violence. And there’s certainly nothing mature or grown up about lack of self-control, cruelty, giving away your ability to think and act independently, or destroying another person’s self-respect on inundating yourself in an environment that caters to those things. To normalize bad choices is not mature. At the “junior” level I could count on books being free of stuff that would damage my kids’ spirits, but that little step up to the “young adult” level means almost everything is absolute trash.

In wholesome books there may be evil forces at work, but the evil is labeled for what it is and is defeated by good in the end. In great stories bad language, morals, and addictions don’t need to be inserted just to create talking points, because the story can hold its own without all the controversial trash. Books have great power to shape our views and ideas. We get to connect with characters and identify our own strengths and weaknesses. Bad content does not equal maturity, but rather being thoughtful and discerning is real maturity. You might enjoy this article, “How To Evaluate A Book,” if you’re having trouble sorting the great books from the garbage.

Great Authors of Books For Teens

Among the rubble, we have found a few authors for teens that we really like and that write wholesome, well-written stories.

Authors for teens that I love:

Anthony Horowitz

Robin McKinley

Shannon Hale

Patricia Wrede (See, The Grand Tour, one of my all time favorite books ever)

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